WILSONVILLE, OR—Twenty-five years ago, Audix was founded in Redwood City, CA. After several years in business during which many more new companies opened in that region, Audix founder Cliff Castle decided to uproot the company and move it to Oregon while he remained in California with his family. Oregon seemed like a good choice for his company, he said, because there was room to grow, and the pressure of the Bay area would be a thing of the past.
After several years of working remotely, Castle decided he needed to be in Oregon too, so he took his family and settled down in nearby Tualatin. Now with many years of success behind them, Audix is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the release of a silver version of its i5 microphone.
A look at the company’s impressive production line revealed just how much the company has grown. “Most people might know us for our drum mics, but we’ve got so much more,” Castle said, noting in particular a small harmonica mic that he was inspired to make after many requests from musicians.
Audix’s headquarters is also home to a fully outfitted stage. “This room is where we sound-check our microphones in a live setting,” Castle explained. “We want it to be as real as possible, so we know how our mics sit in a live mix.”
The stage had countless instruments, a full PA, and a console using digital snakes. Audix records sound checks in a small Sonar-based recording studio “to see how our mics sit in recording mixes,” Castle said. “It’s one thing to hear a mic’s response on its own, but, unlike other companies that take just a lab approach to their testing, we really want to hear how it interacts with other sources in a mix,” Castle explained.
